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Applied Digital's VeriChip Corporation Forms Medical Advisory Board; World-Renowned Cardiologist and Former Executive in Medical Device Manufacturing AppointedDELRAY BEACH, Fla. --(Business Wire)-- Feb. 16, 2005 -- Applied Digital (NASDAQ: ADSX), a provider of Security Through Innovation(TM), announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, VeriChip Corporation, has formed a Medical Advisory Board to assist in expanding the adoption of VeriChip in the medical community. The Board's initial focus will be to advise the Company on ways to increase the acceptance and expand the marketing of VeriChip to practitioners, hospitals and makers of medical devices, insurance companies and Medicaid/Medicare. In addition, the Board will work closely with legislators and federal agencies to improve the quality of information technology in healthcare. Dr. Richard Seelig, Vice President of Medical Applications for VeriChip Corporation, will chair the Board. Other initial members are: Howard Weintraub, Ph.D., a principal in Landfall Therapeutics Consulting Group, LLC and Sameer Mehta, MD, FACC, MBA, a highly respected cardiologist and healthcare activist. Dr. Weintraub is a principal of the Landfall Therapeutics Consulting Group, LLC, which provides strategic and technical consulting in the pharmaceutical and medical device arena. He has more than thirty years of experience in pharmaceutical and medical device research and development. Until his retirement in July of 2003, Dr. Weintraub was Vice President, R&D Corporate Staff for C.R. Bard, the medical device company. In this role he worked to establish and maximize synergies across the company's eight development groups, and was responsible for identification and evaluation of new technologies. Previously, Dr. Weintraub held various research management positions at Ortho Pharmaceutical Corporation, a Johnson & Johnson Company, where he started and built the drug metabolism and clinical pharmacology organizations. In addition he led various project teams including the group that developed the antidiarrheal, Imodium(R). Prior to joining Ortho Pharmaceutical, he was responsible for dermatological and wound care research at Bristol-Myers Squibb in the ConvaTec division and licensed and developed Dovonex(TM), the topical antipsorriatic product. Dr. Weintraub received his B.S. in Pharmacy from Columbia University, and his Ph.D. in biopharmaceutics from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. Weintraub has previously served as the chairman of the Industrial Pharmaceutical Technology Section of the AAPS (formerly APhA) and was chairman of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturer's Association (now RPhMA), Drug Metabolism sub-section, where he helped draft the current bioequivalence/bioavailability regulations and served as the lead presenter for the industry at the FDA sponsored Hatch-Waxman bioequivalence hearings. Until its merger with the Dutch firm, IsoTis, he was a Board Advisor to the Swiss biotechnology firm, Modex Therapeutics. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Digital Angel Corporation (AMEX, DOC), and the privately held biotechnology company, Bioenergy, Inc. He is also a member of the scientific advisory board of Polymerix Corporation, the Strategic Advisory Board of Aderans, Inc., and the advisory board of the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers University Dr. Mehta is an experienced interventional cardiologist and served as Chief of Interventional Cardiology and Director of the Cardiovascular Library at Cedars Medical Center in Miami. He is an experienced clinical investor as well. Previously, he was President of the American Heart Association. He was also an Associate Clinical Professor in Cardiology at the University of Miami-Jackson School of Medicine. Dr. Mehta was named the Cardiologist of the Year by HCA, Inc. in 1999. He has served or currently serves on numerous Medical and Scientific Advisory and Board of Directors including EGT Inc, Vizcaya Museum & Gardens, Scimed Inc., Spectranetics Inc., Advanced Interventional Systems Inc. He received his Medical Graduate Degree from the University of Delhi in India with honors and was awarded a Masters in Business Administration in Healthcare Administration from the University of Miami. About VeriChip: VeriChip Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Applied Digital. The VeriChip product is a sub dermal RFID micro transponder that can be used in a variety of security, financial, emergency identification and healthcare applications. About the size of a grain of rice, each VeriChip device contains a unique verification number that is captured by briefly passing a proprietary scanner over the VeriChip. In October 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared VeriChip for medical applications in the United States. VeriChip is not an FDA-regulated device with regard to its security, financial, personal identification/safety applications and is MRI compatible. About Applied Digital: Applied Digital develops innovative security products for consumer, commercial, and government sectors worldwide. The Company's unique and often proprietary products provide security for people, animals, the food supply, government/military arena, and commercial assets. Included in this diversified product line are RFID applications, end-to-end food safety systems, GPS/Satellite communications, and telecomm and security infrastructure, positioning Applied Digital as the leader of Security Through Innovation. Applied Digital is the owner of a majority position in Digital Angel Corporation (AMEX: DOC). For more information, visit the company's website at http://www.adsx.com. Statements about the Company's future expectations, including future revenues and earnings, and all other statements in this press release other than historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and as that term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change at any time, and the Company's actual results could differ materially from expected results. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequently occurring events or circumstances. |
